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10 thoughts on “Priorities”

It may not be the most significant news of the day, but besides being mean-spirited, treating Farrah Fawcett’s exclusion as thoroughly insignificant is off base. She has worked with Alan Pakula and Robert Altman, and she co-starred with (interestingly enough) Jeff Bridges in two films. So, she was much more than a TV actress. She was also a towering icon of the 70s. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t have been included.

I realize my closing line could be read as thinking Fawcett’s death was insignificant — that wasn’t my intention. I was referring to the kerfuffle over her absence from the death reel.

Maybe it’s because I don’t regard the Oscars as the ultimate authority of artistic relevance or importance, but seriously, wasn’t there enough talk about Farrah Fawcett’s contribution to entertainment and pop culture when she died? Is this really that much of a slight?

Frankly, I’d be saying the same thing if they’d left Michael Jackson out. Icon or not, he wasn’t primarily associated with movies.

I’ll be honest, I’ve actively avoided reading Variety for quite a while now. Was McCarthy the one who started sentences with words like “Pic” or “Laffer”? As in, “Pic expected to do boffo business with teens.” Or, “Jen Aniston laffer appeals to middle-aged crowd.”

I’m not sure why anyone would cheer layoffs, but that’s your right. But the main point everyone’s ignoring is that if a high-profile publication can dispense with their chief critic who has been with them for 31 years, it means any publication can do it. And yes, that includes Now Toronto. Regardless of your opinions of Variety and McCarthy, it sets a chilling precedent.

@ atyl — Who’s cheering layoffs? I’m not seeing a lot of respect for Variety here, but no one seems to be positioning this as a positive.

Certainly, I’ve seen enough friends lose their jobs to a balance sheet — and been cut loose myself, under similar circumstances — to be sympathetic to McCarthy, and disappointed in Variety. Brand names and reputations are not always interchangeable.